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Broccoli Casserole

Cheesy broccoli casserole is so much better when you make your cheese sauce from scratch, amirite? Of course I’m right! This recipe is fantastic for Thanksgiving and other holidays that require beaucoup cooking because the cook time and temperature is flexible. Oven’s already preheated to 425? No big deal! Gotta reheat that pie at 350? Also no big deal! Because the broccoli is already partially cooked, and the cheese sauce is hot, all you’re doing in the oven is getting everything melded together. This broccoli casserole makes great leftovers, too, which is an important consideration at Thanksgiving.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 F

Rinse the broccoli and cut into florets, approximately 1″ cubes. Peel the stalks and cut them into pieces as well. Put broccoli in a casserole dish with 1 tablespoon water and cover with a glass lid or a plate. Microwave 3 minutes or until just tender.

Melt the butter in a sauce pan and add the flour. Stir and cook 45 seconds until smooth and beginning to smell toasty.

Add half the milk and stir briskly to combine. Add the rest of the milk and seasonings.

Add 1/2 cup of the cheese and stir to melt. Congratulations! You just made a Mornay sauce! Now add in the sour cream.

Drain the broccoli and mix with the sauce.

Put it all in a casserole.

Top with broken crackers and remaining cheese

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or 425 F for 15 minutes until browned and bubbling.

I’ve made this! Except slightly different recipe that I got from a really old friend, instead of cheese sauce you put in a tin of cream of chicken soup, a chopped up grilled chicken breast and sliced mushrooms, and pasta shapes. It’s a good way to use up pasta and leftover chicken. Then you top the whole thing with grated cheese and Doritos. Somehow I always managed to squeeze all of that into one dish, just about. It’s a favourite recipe for when you’ve come home really cold and tired and don’t want to cook, and it’s so comforting.

Hey! This is making it to my Thanksgiving dinner! My only change will be using bread crumbs in place of the Ritz, just because I forgot to buy them. Also … When I was searching for this recipe in google, one of the first things that popped up was a Huffington Post article about your Chick-Fil-Gay sandwich! I thought that was kind of neat to come across. Thanks for all of the awesome recipes! I also super appreciate that you put up tasty and easy vegetarian recipes!!!

Yay! That is cool that it is still popping up, Katricia! Thanks for writing and thank you especially for the feedback on vegetarian recipes. I’m going to be doing more in the future. Happy Thanksgiving!